Dajabon market gets even bigger

The Minister of Economy Isidoro Santana and Antonio Vargas, the director general of Multilateral Cooperation, inspected the remodeling, expansion and cleanup of the Dajabon bi-national market on the border with Haiti. The expansion is scheduled to be inaugurated this summer by President Danilo Medina.

Vargas said the European Union contributed €5 million to the project, and the Dominican government RD$37 million. The binational market is said to move around US$1 billion a year. Another US$2 billion are transacted informally. According to a 2010 survey, the market is visited by more than 200,000 persons each year, of which an estimated 52% are Dominicans and 48% are Haitians.

During the visit, Santana and Vargas were accompanied by Dajabon’s mayor, Miguel Cruz Jimenez, and several city council members, according to a press release by the Ministry of Economy.

Santana said that the additional investment in the bi-national market is just one more piece of evidence of the interest of the Dominican government in consolidating relations with the Haitian people.

“A major effort has been carried out to organize bilateral trade with improvements in the market stands and rehabilitating damaged structures,” he explained. He said the Dominican government is also interested in restoring the Masacre River watershed.